After last Monday's meeting on May 11, the mayor invited those of us taking notes into his office to brief us on the OMEGA meeting he attended this past Friday in Cambridge. The Ohio Mid-Eastern Government Association, as previously mentioned, is sort of a coordinator for member government agencies to secure funding for various projects. Last Friday's meeting was conducted by OMEGA Project Manager Dana Soter.
Mayor Joe Surace attended in hopes to find funding for the newly proposed street from the Nevada St. rail crossing to the Port Authority land for trucks to use to safely egress the village. The proposed street will eliminate the heavy truck traffic through existing village streets and past Garfield school. It will be a dedicated truck street allowing the drivers to enter and exit directly to and from Route 7.
Surace advised that one of the key points OMEGA uses for deciding which projects get funded is the ability of the applying entity, such as Wellsville, has to pay their 45% matching share. The estimated cost of the new street is $1.2 million. For the ville our share would be $540,000 which is not presently available. Consequently this has to go to the back burner but Surace is still hoping for some stimulus money when Uncle Sam has the third round of spending. This is still a number one priority if Wellsville is looked upon favorably.
Not having funds for our share of the street proposal Surace said instead he turned around and applied for $300,000 to finish up the Sewage Treatment plant renovations on the digesters. That project has been held up with the STAG funds frozen by the EPA. The village has the funds to cover the matching share for the amount on the digesters.
Although we were misled last week that the remaining STAG money, some $600,000, was going to be released that is not the case. It is still unknown when that will be. Going after the amount planned for the digesters from OMEGA will free up money for another project whenever the EPA releases the STAG money. The conversion of the digesters will eliminate the sewage smell.
With Fiscal Office Dale Davis present the discussion evolved to talking about the STAG funds. This is a subject we've mentioned several times before. The total amount for that grant was $4.1 million and was arranged through the offices of former Congressman Jim Trafficant. It was awarded back in 2001. For our share the village was allowed to use amounts spent on previous sewage projects going back to 1992. Up until January of last year no documentation was required by the EPA for the amounts spent on the previous projects. Post grant expenditures have all been audited and approved.
Then in January 2008 the EPA, for the first time, demanded documentation with receipts and cancelled checks for the sewer projects completed prior to 2001. The EPA wanted repaid $1.2 million. With a lot of hard work by practically everyone in Village Hall that amount was justified with paper work except for a little over $12,000. Now, in spite of what we were misled to believe, it is found out that the EPA has not yet recognized or accepted the documentation for the amount that was covered. Davis said if and when that occurs the village will write a check for the remaining $12,000 if necessary to free up the remaining $600,000.
The EPA Office of Inspecter General has indicated that someone contacted them and accused the village of misusing grant money. That is what prompted them to require records going back 16 years. Through all this time the EPA never once accused Wellsville of any malfeasance. Nor has the EPA allowed village officials to know and face the accuser but because of whoever it is, basically all sewer projects have been put on hold. It is felt that whoever it was the intention was to embarrass the Surace and previous administrations. In truth what they did was to put at risk the health and safety of not only village residents but that of folks visiting and traveling through the village.
All matters investigated that involve public tax payer money is a public record. As a matter of public record it will someday become known who the accuser was. It is my wish that when that comes around I can get their picture. It's just a matter of time.
Mean while the mayor has pledged to continue looking at any and all possible sources for funding projects to improve our home.
ole nib
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5 comments:
What about the Dillard verdict Nib, any thoughts?
Nib, I'm a little confused and maybe you can clear this up. Whether someone "tipped-off" the EPA or not, wouldn't the village still have to provide documentation for all projects done with STAG funds at some point? I would think there would be an audit at the end of this grant, wouldn't there? What real difference does it make whether it is done now or later, the same missing documentation will be missing later. I understand that projects are on hold because of this, but hopefully this teaches any administration that you have to keep records in order. While some may think this "person" did this to embarrass both present and past administrations, and maybe so, they may also be trying to hold their elected officials responsible for what they are elected to do. Just a thought. Don't forget that old saying about pointing fingers.
Good point. I can't argue with your logic. I think it became suspicious because of the timing. As pointed out by FO Dale Davis, from the time the grant was awarded in 2001 until January 2008, the EPA never once asked for documentation of the village share. The village share was previous expenditures on sewer projects going back to 1992. I think that going back 16 years they did pretty good getting everything except for $12,000 documented, especially since those that did the record search were not part of the administration from 1992 to 2001.
nib
Hats off to the clerks, they went through boxes and boxes of old records. They are the ones, along with Dale Davis who found the missing records,nobody on Council did.
It seems strange that they allowed projects from 9 years ago to be applied to a grant that was awarded in 2001. You would think the documents from projects way back would had to have been provided prior to the grant being awarded or shortly thereafter. Hmmm, food for thought, I suppose.
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